Persistence Pays

One of the most common marketing problems I run into is this:

Organizations drop programs before they have a chance to work. 

An ad or two will run. One mailer gets sent. Response is underwhelming, so the plug gets pulled. And the organization goes off saying something like “We tried that, and it didn’t work."

AARGH!!

TRUE STORY:

An organization started a new ad series. Response the first month was lackluster. (Okay, it was bad!) The next two months weren’t much better; but we stuck with it and response started to pick up in the fourth month.

What was going on? Two things: repetition and timing.

• REPETITION: The audience needed to be exposed to the message several times before it sunk in.
• TIMING: For most products and services you don't know when someone will be ready to buy, so you need to be out there consistently.

Current wisdom is that it can take up to nine (yes, 9!) repetitions of a message for your audience to “get it.” Of course, you need to be reaching the right audience with a message that means something to them.

It’s a lot to think about, but help is out there. If you don’t have marketing expertise in your organization, hire a marketing communications specialist to help you. Even if you have a marketing department, an outside perspective can be invaluable.

My advice?  

Be persistent! Stick with it! Take a long-term perspective! Don’t give up!